Iguana care?

[I<3Dreamsicles]

Someone we know is leaving for college and needs to get rid of their young iguana and my little brother wants to get it. Only problem is he has no idea how to care for them even though I told him to look at iguana care sheets... I have a few questions, im wondering most about the proper diet, how much UVB light they need, and things that can be used as cages, and sizes that will be needed.

I read that commercial iguana food is bad, and that you need to feed some amount of veggies and fruits... idk how to come up with a good diet though. are there any foods to stay away from?
And im not sure what type of UV light he should get, a "desert" or tropical one... i know iguanas are more tropical but a desert light has more uvb so it might be better...

What should the humidity be? I read its supposed to be like 80%??? How would you keep it that high, and what is the best thing to heat the enclosure with? Basking lights or an under tank heater? Right now we only have an aquarium to put it in with a screen top. With a heat and uvb light there wont be much to cover on the top.., idk if we will make a enclosure or what.... and idk how big it should be...

also is it safe to used inked newspaper as a substrate? this care sheet says that ink can give off fumes that can make your iguana ill???

[Dalishar]

Before I get into anything, think loooong and hard about taking the lizard. Green iguanas, up until maturity, are extremely flighty animals. Tail whips hurt, bites hurt, and they want absolutely nothing to do with you. But no matter how much they thrash you you need to hold them or you'll have a bitey, whippy giant angry lizard on your hands. They're also fairly expensive to get settled, grow fast on proper diets, and will need a HUGE cage. They need to be fed daily as well - think of it as a scaly dog that will probably hate your guts for the first year or two. If it's "totally tame" right now as a youngster, it's either a one in a million animal or not on a proper diet / kept warm enough.
Males get very aggressive during mating season, and females will produce eggs regardless of a male being present or not. That means you either have a huge angry boy for a few months, or a female who needs an egg box and can become eggbound.

You're right, the iguana pellets are terrible. Avoid any sort of animal proteins - they can't utilize them and it can cause liver complications. This includes bugs, mice, anything alive. For the iguana salad you want about ~45% greens, ~40-45% veggies and less than 10% fruit. I choose to supplement my iguana's weekly meals with fruit snacks in the evening instead of giving it to him along with his meal. It keeps me in his good graces

Phosphorus / calcium ratios are very important. You'll be learning a lot about the nutritional make up of greens and vegetables. I would recommend calcium supplements up until ~3 years old every day. Older lizards on proper diets shouldn't require anything extra, but it won't hurt if you don't go overboard.

Avoid Romaine, iceberg, etc lettuce. They offer very little in nutrition as they are primarily water. My staples are Collard and Mustard greens, and I mix up between escarole, endives, and dandelion greens (not the flower, just the stalks / leaves) for variety.
Veggie staples are green beans, butternut squash (any soft squash will do), parsnip and any color of bell pepper. I like to switch up with okra, asparagus, etc. Basically, variety is king with iguana diets.

Rhubarb, and acidic fruits (oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, etc) are best avoided. Some iguanas have bad reactions to the fruits (dibble hates them) and rhubarb is poisonous. Don't go around picking dandelions or anything to feed the iguana either - unless you know for sure no chemicals were used on them, it's just not worth the risk.

For lighting you want a full spectrum UVA / UVB light. Make sure to read the boxes closely - some bulbs will say they're full spectrum, but don't include UVA. I would recommend, and use myself, fluorescent tubes. I believe ours is 10.0 ZooMed tube, but I lost the box, heh. You'll want to replace the UV every ~6 months, as it starts to become less effective after that amount of time.

I kept Dibble on outdoor carpet for a time, but it's a pain in the butt to clean. He's been on newspaper for almost three years now and has had no ill effects. (Other than smearing his poo everywhere, ugh)

65-70% is the ideal humidity. Given how large the cages are, it can be a real challenge keeping it up. Some people use humidifiers, some are able to spritz the iguana and enclosure a few times a day with a water bottle. Big bowls of water always help. Dibble gets a bath every other day to make sure he stays hydrated. Baths also help with taming down (ensures you're interacting with them) and good hygiene.

You want to use heat lamps to create a basking spot for them. You want a basking spot just under ~90F and ambience no lower than 80F. I've had to use Ceramic Heat Emitters (2) and a heat lamp to keep dibble's cage to proper temperature, but his cage is massive. UTHs are pretty useless for iguanas. Ensure there's a day / night cycle (this is why I like CHEs), or you will have a very stressed lizard. Dibble's lights are on 8am-8pm. I keep the ceramics on 24/7 to ensure the nightdrop isn't severe.

Cage size. Green iguanas are arboreal, and need a tall cage. You'll be building one or ordering a (expensive) custom built one. Six feet tall is a minimum height. You want the width to be at least half as long as the iguana (assume a 6ft long lizard). I would recommend at least 4ft long. 6'x6'x6' is even better. 10'x10'x10' is perfect. Have a whole room to give the lizard? By all means!

Tanks are terrible for them and they will outgrow even the largest aquariums very quickly, not to mention they don't have the height required for a green iguana to thrive.

Hope this helps - after you get through the hell years, and get everything set up and going they really are awesome pets! I wouldn't trade Dibble for the world.

http://www.greenigsociety.org/home.html Is very good for info, by the by.

[wilomn]

Fillet then BBQ with a spicy sauce.

Just a few minutes per side unless it's a really big one, then you just have to use your best judgment.

Best way in the world to take care of them.

[I<3Dreamsicles]

Thanks for the elaborate response. Ok, is there a way to tell if its a male or female yet. I honestly have no idea how old it is but I guess its "young" so probably smaller... I read somewhere that you cant tell untill they get older.

I just wanted to use a small aquarium untill we can get a better one, maybe this one:

I actually found this nice? home made cage on the local craigslist its 7' high 5' wide and 3' deep theres a water tub in the bottom and it comes with some lights and uv stuff. well. here.

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/pet/1450924963.html

I was telling my brother that its probably a good deal to get because it will cost that much to buy all the stuff to make a cage, and all the lights etc. And im pretty sure thats been on craigslist for a while so if they HAVENT sold it yet, maybe they will sell it for cheaper. Would that cage be good? it looks like it could use more elevated FLAT places...

If that enclosure has UVB light dont they give off UVA light too, or the basking lights would?
Do the compact fluorescent UVB lights work as well as tubes? I think that enclosure had holes for smaller lights not a tube.
I think that enclosure would hold humidity really well plus the tub of water in the bottom.
Comes with a timer for the lights...

Ha. we have an extra bedroom but im pretty sure my parents would NEVER let us use that...

whats a good phosphorus/calcium ratio?

[I<3Dreamsicles]

Fillet then BBQ with a spicy sauce.

Just a few minutes per side unless it's a really big one, then you just have to use your best judgment.

Best way in the world to take care of them.

[Dalishar]

That cage looks just fine! I'd remove the wire shelves and replace them with flat wood shelves (maybe wrap some indoor / outdoor carpet around for grip, or notch the wood a bit), otherwise toes / claws might get stuck and ripped off. If you really want to get into it you could put some driftwood in place of the... wire wrapped pvc? for a "ramp", which might look nicer. Humidity should be a dream to keep up though!

Tubes are just nice because they cover more of the cage. If the holes are placed so that the UV is also over the basking, or close enough to it, the bulbs should be okay. Some UVB lights also give off UVA, but some don't. Heating / basking bulbs are essentially just high wattage light bulbs, so they won't give anything special. I'd just buy new UV bulbs if you got that cage as you don't know how old his are. Really good price overall, though.

You want a calcium : phosphorus ratio of about 2 : 1.

So far as gender goes... I still have no idea if Dibble is a boy or girl . Unless you want to try and get it probed or somesuch, you won't really know for sure until it either starts dropping eggs or sperm plugs. If I remember right they aren't sexually mature until about 3 years old, so you have awhile to work out how to handle either gender.

[I<3Dreamsicles]

That cage looks just fine! I'd remove the wire shelves and replace them with flat wood shelves (maybe wrap some indoor / outdoor carpet around for grip, or notch the wood a bit), otherwise toes / claws might get stuck and ripped off. If you really want to get into it you could put some driftwood in place of the... wire wrapped pvc? for a "ramp", which might look nicer. Humidity should be a dream to keep up though!

Tubes are just nice because they cover more of the cage. If the holes are placed so that the UV is also over the basking, or close enough to it, the bulbs should be okay. Some UVB lights also give off UVA, but some don't. Heating / basking bulbs are essentially just high wattage light bulbs, so they won't give anything special. I'd just buy new UV bulbs if you got that cage as you don't know how old his are. Really good price overall, though.

You want a calcium : phosphorus ratio of about 2 : 1.

So far as gender goes... I still have no idea if Dibble is a boy or girl . Unless you want to try and get it probed or somesuch, you won't really know for sure until it either starts dropping eggs or sperm plugs. If I remember right they aren't sexually mature until about 3 years old, so you have awhile to work out how to handle either gender.

To be honest I didnt even notice the wire shelves. I thought that was just something the fake plants were hanging from lol. Could an iguana climb up there? theres nothing really close to it to get on top of. Idk. Maybe just place some 1/4" plywood or something over the shelf and secure it on there

Yeah wire wrapped pvc lol. Looks like it would work though... Id probably put more like rope or chord around it so its like one of those cat scratch things... I dont know if I would be able to find a big piece of drift wood like that, and the store bought ones are so over priced....

and this is supposed to be my brothers yet im doing all the work... Im waiting for a response from the person with the cage.

[Dalishar]

Ha, get the boy on the computer and reading then!

It looks like the tube on the right goes right up to the top. Depending on how small he is he could probably climb up the decorations. I had a green yearling escape and climb right up some blinds (still have no bloody idea how he managed), and my supposedly-terrestrial fatty cuban can jump up a good ~2 feet if he really wants up somewhere. So don't be surprised where the guy ends up, lol.

I don't know if you have any vendors that sell it at reptile shows, but if you can track down one of those I usually get big grapevine "branches" for $40-$60, depending on size. Store bought is a little ridiculous, yes. Mostly cosmetics though, so if your brother doesn't really care about the decor it shouldn't matter.

[I<3Dreamsicles]

Ha, get the boy on the computer and reading then!

It looks like the tube on the right goes right up to the top. Depending on how small he is he could probably climb up the decorations. I had a green yearling escape and climb right up some blinds (still have no bloody idea how he managed), and my supposedly-terrestrial fatty cuban can jump up a good ~2 feet if he really wants up somewhere. So don't be surprised where the guy ends up, lol.

I don't know if you have any vendors that sell it at reptile shows, but if you can track down one of those I usually get big grapevine "branches" for $40-$60, depending on size. Store bought is a little ridiculous, yes. Mostly cosmetics though, so if your brother doesn't really care about the decor it shouldn't matter.

Kids these days, he wont listen... Ive told him when he was on the computer doing nothing... ahh well.
I didnt know how good of climbers they were, do you mean those like bendable grape vine things that have wire in them i think? Ive seen them at local reptile shows and pet stores... I might tell him to get some at the show, since im trying to go on the 15th to get a boa.

[Dalishar]

Nah, it's actual grapevine wood, but those would probably work until he got too heavy to climb around on them. Maybe even then... I've never used the bendable wire vines so not sure how much weight they can handle.